Humility is a word that is often heard but not yet fully understood by many. Misinterpretations about what “humility” is are still present. Some think that humility is the refusal to show everyone the skills and talents one has. It is also thought of as putting oneself down or feeling worthless. However, humility is not defined that way. Humility is more than not calling attention to oneself or thinking that someone is better. Humility is a value that is manifested through acceptance, selflessness, and contentment. Humility is not that easy to show because titles, achievements, and the like, give birth to the culprit which is pride. These things give an identity to a person that is why the tendency is a fear of losing the titles, achievements, and things that one can be proud of. We love the idea of humility, we love the idea that our neighbors, friends, and family should all possess humility, but do we ever strive for humility ourselves? Humility is not something that I tend to think of as a quality that I should be working on for the betterment of myself. But as an athlete humility can be one of the strongest qualities that you can possess. You realize that there is always another level to your growth, your talent, your skills. It keeps you grounded and it keeps you motivated. People who strive for humility always worry that what they have put in will not be enough, they do the most work and worry that it is not enough. Because pride is what destroys our humility it makes sense because prideful people do little and they believe that they are the best and can still be the best. I think humility shows more in yourself than how it is received by others. I think that humility can be seen as being self-deprecating and unconfident, but humility truly keeps us grounded. The line between confidence and pride can be small, but I think if you are truly humble you will be forced to swallow your pride. Humanity and pride cannit live simultaneously but confidence and humility can be a great compliment to each other. Humility has helped me tremendously, I tore my ACL and had to rehab for 9 months, it was quite embarassing when my mom had to help me walk, get out of bed, and take a shower. I had to take responsibility for my current state of athleticism, which was awful. I lost so much and came back to my season in worse shape than the year before. My injury forced me to be humble, it forced me to let go of all my achievements, skills, and talents because truly they did not show for much. My humility forced me to look at life circumstances and believe that I was the only one responsible and the only one who could change them. Humility showed me that the terrible things that life brings can also bring growth. Although my injury was a setback, my health, my talent, my athleticism, all worse than ever, I still grew. My character grew like no other, I learned how to tackle life's challenges with a positive outlook, I learned to have compassion, I learned the things in life that had more value than a knee, than talent, and even a sports season. My character meant way more, I grew stronger, I became more focused, more confident, but mostly more humble than ever.

This past year I decided to take a huge step to further my college education and financial situation. When the pandemic started in 2020 I was a sophomore at my high school and I had to make a choice to pursue online college for my junior year and pursue a higher level of education, allowing my high school to pay for part of my college education or go back to high school where I knew I could easily succeed but would miss out on pushing myself, my education, and my financial future. Luckily I decided that the best thing for me would be to look at all the uncertainty and decide that I was not gonna allow life and its circumstances to disrupt my goals and the education I wanted to pursue. Fast forward a little while later, I am in the last semester of my senior year and I will be graduating with an associate's degree along with my high school diploma. I will have 2 years of college completed and fully paid for by the time I head to university to finish a bachelor's degree. I became a member of my college’s honor society my junior year and will be graduating with a better GPA than I did my first 2 years of college, all the while being a 2 sport athlete and working a part-time job. My choice had paid off more than I could imagine. The best part was the confidence it instilled in me and the charter growth that I gained from the challenges that I faced. Covid-19 challenged me in one of the most crucial stages of my life so far, to take the chance to explore the unknown or stay where I was comfortable and where I know I could easily succeed. The pandemic could have given me an out, it could have given me an excuse to put my dreams on hold or even give up. Covid-19 should have crushed my dreams and stopped my plans but I wanted to prove to myself that the circumstances of the world and the circumstances of life would not change my dreams and ambitions. I am only in control of so little and it takes an active choice to not let the circumstances of life determine the direction of your dreams. I am proud that I proved to myself that I made the decisions that reflected the character of the person I want to grow up to be. I made the decision to pursue college-level education at 16 years old. I want to prove to myself that this is just the beginning of my ambition. That the circumstances are not an out for my dreams but are there to create a better story for my life and the proof that things dreams can be accomplishable even in significant adversity.